I told myself I was going to spend all four years of my college career at the same college. I wanted the full experience and didn't want to start all over. Halfway through my freshman year, it was brought to my attention that I should transfer to a college closer to home because I was 6 hours away from home. I didn't want to listen because I didn't want to leave all the relationships I had made. My first semester had been the best, I found Jesus, made the best friends, found someone that could pour into me. I had fallen in love with Charleston and everything it had to offer. I had people in my life that helped me grow and vice versa. I didn't want to leave.

The second semester started and I still was hesitant about transferring. Something had changed with the relationships I had that semester. I tried to convince myself that Charleston Southern University was what I need and held on until it hurt. They weren't relationships I didn't need but they weren't my forever friends. They helped me grow and I like to think that I helped them grow in some way.

The summer came and I was accepted into a school in northeast Tenessee and chose to go there because of the distance from home and it was cheaper. I didn't speak to most of the friends I had because they were just not good for me anymore and because of this, I went through the first two weeks of my sophomore by myself. No one to talk to about how my first few days of classes went or about the cute guys in my classes or about how crappy the food was. These two weeks were miserable. I was wishing I didn't transfer and that I was still in South Carolina.

The end of the second week, I found some people that shared some of the same interests with and they introduced me to a bunch of other people.

I didn't realize how harmful the second half of my freshman year was to me until I left. I didn't realize how much I was forcing myself to enjoy the situation I was in. I didn't know how bad CSU was for me until I found a community that I truly enjoy and that's not harmful.

Transferring is an uncomfortable thing to actually do but you shouldn't have to force yourself to like where you currently are to avoid changing schools. If you aren't happy, leave. Leaving might be the best thing you could do for yourself.